Comet Erupts in Brilliant Show

A once-faint comet has made a sudden leap from obscurity to center stage. Comet 17P Holmes, now visible to northern hemisphere residents, increased its brightness by a factor of one million this week, going from magnitude 17 to 2. This makes it visible to the unaided eye as well as binoculars and telescopes, offering a unique viewing opportunity for sky watchers.

The comet could fade in a matter of days or weeks, so astronomers recommend that viewers take a look now.

Amateur astronomer Edwin Holmes, who was looking at the Andromeda galaxy at the time, discovered Comet Holmes in 1892. The comet has presented a mystery to astronomers ever since. It likely was undergoing a similar outburst when discovered, since it reached 4th magnitude and was faintly visible to the unaided eye.

The comet orbits the Sun once every 7 years at a distance of about 200 million miles (compared to Earth’s 93-million-mile orbit).

As Earth continued to turn, nightfall arrived in Japan. "It is visible with naked eyes in a large city!" posted SeiichiYoshida, who observed the comet from beside Tsurumi River in Yokohama. By 17:15 Universal Time he was describing Comet Holmes as magnitude 2.8.

Essentially, Japan broke the news this morning that the comet is visible with the naked eye.I asked our planetary expert who is a regular speaker on the morning radio show I am a part of, who first told me word of the comet just came in from Japan, if it would be visible with such a bright full moon. He says it may hurt viewing of the comet, but not by much, and 10:00 EST (not sure how or when it will appear in other parts of the hemisphere) is the best time to view it.